The current war between Russia and Ukraine is affecting the pace of economic growth in the Dominican Republic, President Luis Abinader told the press during a 2.5-hour lunch and question-and-answer meeting at the Green Room of the Presidential Palace.
The government believes that the economic growth forecast for 2022, before the war broke out, will have to be reconsidered. It expects the GDP to close around 5% growth. He said the government will continue to subsidize food inputs and fuels. Fuel subsidizes alone have been around RD$1 billion.
This is a year of crisis, said the President. He said the government would continue to improve, equip and remodel hospitals to meet the needs of the population that kept out of hospitals during most of the Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021.
Abinader reported that his government has completed seven hospitals whose construction began in the last administration and that currently some 100 are undergoing improvements, while 10 oncology clinics and 11 hemodialysis centers are underway.
He said that efforts are being made for a sustainable system of primary care centers and that he is working, together with the president of the Dominican Medical Association, Senén Caba, on a plan for the financing of new clinics for the affiliated doctors.
Abinader recently announced that the Bandex would have a portfolio of two billion pesos to finance the improvement of private sector clinics.
Also present at the luncheon were Vice President Raquel Peña, Interior Minister Jesús Vásquez, Administrative Minister José Paliza, Agriculture Minister Limbert Cruz, Industry and Commerce Minister Ito Bisonó and the director of the National Health System, Mario Lama, and the commissioner for national security, José Vila.
The President commented on the recent partial strike in the Cibao and said that the government has been dialoguing with the sectors involved. But he pointed out that the list of demands, with more than 100 requests, cannot be satisfied in such a short time. He criticized that the protestors did not include in their demands advances in the processing of government corruption ongoing in the justice.
He addressed the protesting of the construction of the Las Placetas hydroelectric dam and said this is still under study in the Ministry of Economy and Planning and has pending studies that would be carried out under the Ministry of Environment.
He acknowledged that there are many unmet needs in the country and that he was surprised to learn recently that 60% of the neighborhoods in the northern city of San Francisco de Macoris lack sidewalks. “I can cover part of those needs, but I reiterate that we are in a difficult year,” he added.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
El Caribe
27 April 2022